Lessons

Lesson Info

Closing Thoughts with Q&A

Have you ever been the subject of somebody else's conceptual but you know I haven't actually that's an interesting idea that's a very interesting idea but what I love to do is cooperate with people who believe the same things I do you know? So if a subject comes to me like britney today with the people we think we just didn't last segment she totally believed it with me and so that's really need to corroborate with a subject who believes in what you're the message you're tryingto put forth and some artists don't like to communicate that message until they're done with the piece because sometimes the message changes as you work with it you know, like I could shake that image into photo shop tomorrow and it will be a complete disaster for me and I won't know where to go with it I'll be stuck as an artist it happens all the time like I told you I have tons of pieces on my hard drive that I'll probably never see the light of day okay, so don't be hard on yourself if a piece goes toe all he...

ck in a handbasket and you can't finish it and it's not working set it aside come back to it I come back to pieces a year later and work with it again and we'll go in a different direction and my my mentor tom rouse is the one who taught me that he had a piece that he did that was like a it was like a series of three women he's into figure studies female nudes and figures very artistic he believes and he's very into the human the feminine form and so he photographs nude women a lot it's very artistic it's not it's not don't go that direction this is what I'm saying he it's very tasteful and artistic and lovely and his reasoning for it is that women have been in art the subject of art for centuries and artists have been fascinated by the women by the woman and when male artists dominated the world boy back when women were their muses okay, so he kind of takes that but he had this image of three women and it wasn't coming together so he shelved it for a few years and then when he came back to it the way he had done it just in the woman's abdomen and chest area was hey like cut it open and photo shop and put a scene in there like a mountain scene and like it's really surreal it's he's a very surreal artist as I'm sure you saw from the from the peace I showed yesterday on and all of a sudden it turned into a successful thing so sometimes what happen is you'll do a piece they won't be successful but then you'll take a piece of it and put it into something else okay so don't be afraid do that either I think I was wondering if I might come up and join you please I was wondering if we could have a conversation sort of time back to the beginning of the class yesterday you talked about who will benefit from this course family photographers who want to create deeply personal work family photographers who are stuck in a row repped anyone who wants to infuse their truth self into their work anyone who wants to capture authentic connection and we have a wonderful audience here on I'm wondering if you can talk to us about what you have taken away so far what it's how is this affected your creativity and for those people at home maybe you haven't been with us the whole time tell us about some of your biggest takeaways volunteer ladies grab that mic putting you on the spot vulnerable there's a mic right underneath there's one right under the few donna thank you I guess what I have really taken from this course is mean you you've talked about your why in all your other courses but I think I've really found my why and teo be vulnerable and let myself go let myself be creative and be an artist and it's okay and I mean it brought tears to my eyes last night you know writing for ten minutes about that one word you sure your word what was it no, you have to I yeah, I can. What was your word? I'm sure your letter of your word it was emotional emotional? Yeah, and he wrote a letter to emotional and how how was that? Was it that they will be? It was frane it was just gonna ask you that it was very freeing and it made me realize I now know what my wise and why I want to photograph families and newborns and because you know, through through my past and how I grew up and then when I had my daughter and how emotional it wass ppd for me too. So yeah, I understand it it's amazing how liberating it is isn't it earlier when you just like let yourself go on be vulnerable and not really care what the world is it's like paulson you're free to be you. No, not what you thought you should be and that has such freeing notions with it. I remember feeling the same thing in myself and I was like, oh my god, I don't have toe pretend anymore and that's a beautiful thing in your art in your life it is a weight lifted it xena weakening almost kind of you know it's all soft but you feel it but it's true and I hope that I really hope that at least by sharing what my experience that you guys can I can see that you khun do it anyone can do this anyone could do it it's not that hard it's just a matter of being true to you and I think that's the biggest I hope that's the biggest taken so far there's still more and you've given us that house the house to find your wife and that that those exercises those nuts and bolts and then how to create that put interaction has been amazing when you'll find that once you really start working from who you are and your experience in life, you'll grow even more and it'll liberate you even more because the minute I mean I feel so good that I just did that image in the water I'm like yeah, I know it's been three years remember three years later I'm finally and like I said, we'll play with it tomorrow see if it works and it might not, but just I'm okay with that and I encourage you to do the same. Yeah, I'll be a little frustrated tomorrow and if it doesn't work out, you know but it's an opportunity for growth you know everything you do and every mistake you make and every unsuccessful image you have is an opportunity to make it better one of things I love about credibly classes is that the instructors always come out of it having grown themselves and that's super cool at one of the reasons I love to do these did you have one don't you know I don't so much there's so much that we've learned and we're continuing to learn and you know me personally I think I've always struggled to find the connection not with the client I get along great with my clients I have a connection with little kids you know I don't I'm not has challenged on the surface connection it's more of the emotional connection and finding like briefing finding your why that's I had thiss amazing conversation with talk my husband you're off way too much about newborn photography but I go home last night and he's asking me how wass and we're talking about things and I told him I said, you know, it's really eye opening because in my work I'm always I love the squishy little babies and I love curling them up but the mom images are my favorite mom and baby and it doesn't matter what the mom looks like it doesn't matter if she's overweight are really tiny they're all beautiful to me and I love capturing that eyes closed snuggling in curled up with the baby whether or not the baby's asleep and I told my husband I said I think I finally understand why it is I'm so drawn to that particular image it's that mother and child connection and that's totally it for me that's it you so um earl, the deep reason why I think it has a lot to do with my upbringing, my childhood, my growing up my connection with my children I have been connected with my kids but I never got to have those moments of their newborn you know the curly poses I have lots of pictures of them but none of those with me with them and so I want to give that every month even if they don't want to do it and most of them don't want to do it it's hard so I have to encourage that mistake no matter what you look like however you feel let's just do it even if no one else ever sees it and they always love it that's always her favorite they're so happy that they do it in the end that's awesome I have the same experience in my studio and sometimes it's hard to talk him into it yeah on that's a great way to do it don't worry you don't have to buy it if you don't if you don't like it I'm the only one I would see it I say we're sweat pants where what you want I'm just going to photograph you from the road cage up we'll make you look beautiful, you and your baby and then you know it's all vulnerability they don't want to be vulnerable right and when they trust you to do that that's a really neat gift absolutely so thank you for sharing I wanted to talk a little bit about tying these different themes through together from the different shoots that we've done today because we have had some different we've got the sad deep the whimsical that you know all these teams top tell me about the combination well we worked with the disney theme I was inspired by disney but the truth and the theme and in the disney movie is level aw and I and for me that's what happened when I had my son my love for him sawed my frozen heart I didn't want kids didn't want it all I was not you know when my husband and I got married in may of two thousand ten I we married on the premise that we would not have children and six months later my sister gave birth and I went holy cow what am I missing am I going to regret this decision way went to the beach might have been so scared to ask him I was so scared because I thought he was going to say no I promise we'll get mad at me if I asked you a question what e I think I want to have a family it was response with okay how many? Three weeks later we were pregnant okay it was meant to be but having that child and seeing my sister go through the process she had a child in hopes baby who's a blessing and very much wanted at forty two years old and I'm the younger sister and I look at that I went, oh my gosh, I am going to miss this I'm gonna miss this experience so I decided to have a child and having a child thought my frozen heart it really did it made me love children that muchmore and so that image spoke to that theme and I think that's where that comes from on a deeper level mean everything you're seeing here today and I think any artists who truly creates from their heart you're seeing part of them you're seeing their experience in their life and what they've learned along the way and that's pretty much what I'm showing you here and of course ppd got a little bit more deep and dark and that was a dark part of my life. But it's also something that I feel strongly about I really feel compelled to be an advocate for mothers and an advocate for babies and so by putting that out there and showing that hopefully that'll get you know I'm just a little artist doing my little thing in bend, oregon, but a few people will see it and maybe it'll help somebody maybe it'll get the conversation going um people are tens of thousands on then there is the last image, which you guys heard we just talk about was my relationship with my dad on growing up and learning and becoming developing that love of learning in life, and so hopefully we'll make that transform here tomorrow and photoshopped. But I mean, I think as far as tying the themes together, really, what you're seeing is just what I have experienced in my life because I don't think I could shoot I can't shooting in a way, but I hope that the course don't want, of course, it's, not about me. I'm just creating art because it's, because it's, what I know and kind of show you guys, the technical part from an aspect of my experience, but I'm hoping that the course really gets you to think about your process and what happened. What's happened to you in your life and taking that experience and making your own that's the whole point of this, but as far as shooting his concern and being artistic, I have to do that from from in here in order to make it truly offended.